Special Stage Development
Discussion, concepts and coding foundations

Seeing the chute with full transparency makes me wonder if we should make it semi-transparent, like colored glass. I think it might look cool. The connecting segments (the yellow parts in the above concept) should still remain opaque.

Used CN's star rainbow thing (amazing work ).Took the sunrise idea into effect.tried some strange outline thing similar to chimpo's.Moved location of horizon a few pixels to better align with back diamonds.And there is a cloud effect thrown in to get a day/night contrast. I think that's an idea worth running with...

I had a smooth transition gradient set up before but I tried doing the rough transitions just to see how it would come out. I personally liked the results and I'm trying to get it to get a smoother look from it.

I have done this if somebody wants to use a real star locations. Just take a section and put some more stars in the background as there are billions that are not visible to the eye. These stars are ones that astrologist use in constellations. The blue points make up the iconic Orion's belt. The red point is a real galaxy Andromeda.

This might help as a guide from stopping the stars looking too fake and might also get rid of the cheap look of brush splatters when using a real picture.

Chimpo, could you fill in that top diamond as well? It looks off in its current state with just the outline.

I'd like to see side by side comparisons of the cloud filter diamonds and Chimpo's toon styled ones as well. They both have potential, it's just a matter of seeing how appropriate they are for the stage.

I have done this if somebody wants to use a real star locations. Just take a section and put some more stars in the background as there are billions that are not visible to the eye. These stars are ones that astrologist use in constellations. The blue points make up the iconic Orion's belt. The red point is a real galaxy Andromeda.

This might help as a guide from stopping the stars looking too fake and might also get rid of the cheap look of brush splatters when using a real picture.

The size of the points represents solar luminosity.

I look into this, but here's what I have now.

Changes:Modified use of CN's submitted image.Removed the cloud effect.Added back some of the stars from earlier iterations (on the sides)Made the bottom diamonds more hole-like.Stronger blue.

Except CN's rainbow colours, I think that slapping whatever space.jpg all over makes it look pretty cheap for my tastes!

Hey now, I made that image from scratch, including all of the stars .

But really, my suggestion for that image would be to darken the background stars and add brighter stars all around as well. It's basically what I did for my avatar. Here is my image without the rainbow colors, if you guys would rather have that instead so you can add your own effects if you want.

Personally I think it's too early to start merging things. As they're still just at the "mock up" stage, it's helpful to have them both going in different directions. That way it's easier to see what works and what doesn't. Like working on a logo for instance. You'll never just work on one idea. You'll explore a range of possibilities. So I think it's good to have two separate minds working on two totally separate versions.

Would it be worth adjusting the colour of the sky (or whatever you call it) a bit for certain stages (just adjust the hue)?

Or would that be a stretch too far (from the original game)?

I really like steveswede's sky. Too many stars all over the screen is a bit overwhelming. Need some negative space to keep the balance.